Rockford fans erupt with joy as Blackhawks reclaim Stanley Cup

ROCKFORD — “What a feeling,” Rockford hockey fan Kate Weber said as she watched Antti Niemi, a former IceHog, force a smile while fighting back tears as he hoisted the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night.

Read Register Star reporter Jay Taft's tweets from the game.

Jay Taft

Read Register Star reporter Jay Taft's tweets from the game.

ROCKFORD — “What a feeling,” Rockford hockey fan Kate Weber said as she watched Antti Niemi, a former IceHog, force a smile while fighting back tears as he hoisted the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night.

Weber and dozens of other local hockey fans on hand at the Hawks Nest bar and restaurant erupted in celebration the moment Patrick Kane’s game-, series- and Cup-clinching goal rocketed past Flyers goalie Michael Leighton early in the overtime period.

Nobody in the establishment across the street from the Rockford MetroCentre — the home of the IceHogs — wanted to see a Game 7. Not a single fan in attendance wanted to have to deal with the nervousness of waiting to see what would happen Friday, even if it was going to be inside Chicago’s United Center, where the Blackhawks had not lost a game this series.

“I really wanted it to be tonight,” Ray Examitas of Rockford said while bouncing around the Hawks Nest. “Game 7s are just too dangerous; just too dangerous.”

None of the fans will have to worry about that anymore. Niemi, along with the other nine former IceHogs who suited up for the Blackhawks in this year’s playoffs, won’t have to either. Instead, they soaked up the atmosphere as their names joined the more than 2,000 others etched onto the Stanley Cup.

Rockford’s IceHogs and Blackhawks fans were soaking it up just the same.

“Forty-nine years we’ve been waiting,” Machesney Park’s Jack Campbell said. “The best part has been watching these guys work their way up through Rockford, and going all the way to the Cup. It’s just great for the city: This one and Chicago.”

The IceHogs became the Blackhawks official affiliate three seasons ago, and since then the ‘Hawks fan base has grown throughout the Rock River Valley. After Wednesday night’s victory, it could grow even more.

“The people around here have been so into it these days,” said Becky Yates, the owner of the Hawks Nest. “It’s really helped our business, and it’s just been so great for this whole city.

“It’ll get even crazier now. It’ll be a fun ride.”

With plenty of youngsters on the team — including captains Kane and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Toews, as well as all of the former IceHog contingent — the crazy ride should continue for some time. At least that’s what Rockford’s Christine Patterson believes.

“It’s just been amazing. How awesome is it that our Rockford guys have been contributing big time all the way through,” Patterson said. “I think the buzz has been growing a lot, and I don’t think it will stop now. This could go on for a while.”

Reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

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